Abel: A Better Word (Shadows)

"...to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel."
-Hebrews 12:24
     Last Friday we studied Abel in our series called "Shadows". In this series we are taking a look at characters in the Old Testament of the Bible and seeing in what ways they point to Jesus, with the idea that we can learn more about who Jesus is.  Abel is the second son of Adam, who we studied two weeks ago. Abel's older brother is named Cain. Genesis 4 tells us that Abel was a shepherd who took of sheep, while Cain was more of a farmer.
     Cain brings an offering to God, but the Bible tells us that it was "some of the fruits of the soil (Genesis 4:3)". This sounds great, but then we see that Abel brought an offering, "fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock (Genesis 4:4)". God looked on Abel's offering with favor, but not Cain's. This makes Cain upset, so God approaches him and warns him not to fall into sin. Cain is so upset even after God's attempt to talk to him that he decides to take his brother Abel out into a field and kill him. God later asks Cain where his brother Abel is, claiming that Abel's "blood cries out to me from the ground (Genesis 4:10)".
     Jesus is also known as a shepherd. While we see that Abel was a good shepherd, Jesus was the perfect shepherd. Now, of course I don't mean Jesus takes care of sheep; He takes care of His people. Jesus also brings an offering to God, a perfectly obedient life, and ultimately His life on the cross. Jesus was killed by those who should have been close to Him. These people killed Him because they were angry at Him even though He did nothing wrong, just as Cain was angry at Abel even though Abel did nothing wrong.
     The story doesn't end there. After God confronts Cain about the murder of his brother, God casts Cain away to be a restless wanderer. This is actually a small picture of the grace of Jesus. Cain deserved to die. He killed his own innocent brother, so his punishment should have been an eye for and eye so to speak. However, God does not kill Cain. Keep in mind that Cain didn't life a free life; he was burdened by his sin and guilt, and was cast from God's presence.
     Jesus was crucified because of our sins. Now, we didn't physically kill Jesus, but we are all responsible for His death because our sins were placed on Him. Our punishment should be death, because we sinned against God, but because Jesus died, we have life. However, not only do we get to live, we are free from the burden of our sin, and we get to enjoy God's presence. This is why Jesus' blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:24, paraphrased). Abel's death could not set Cain free from his sin, because Abel was only a man. Jesus' death is able to bring us freedom from sin, because He is fully man and God. While both the blood of Abel and Jesus cried out to God, only Jesus' blood could bring us eternal life.
     As I did last week, I will end with some questions for us to consider. The first three questions are from the discussion on Friday, and the ones after that are my own.

• What is distracting me from God?
• What are the sinful desires that I have let in my door to get hold of me?
• How do I see and think about Jesus in light of sin?
• In what ways do I relate to Cain? Do I get upset when I am rebuked? Do I get jealous when others succeed and I do not? 
• Do I believe that Jesus' blood has the power to set me free from sin?
• What word is speaking over my life?

-Smart

Adam: A New Beginning (Shadows)

"For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!"
-Romans 5:17
     Recently my church's young adult group started a series titled "Shadows". In this series we are studying different characters in the Old Testament of the Bible, and seeing how they shadow Jesus. In other words, we are seeing how all these characters in the Bible point to the character of Jesus. Our hope for this series is that we would learn more about who Jesus is, and how everything in the Bible points to Him. We also want to bridge the gap between the Old and New Testaments, to show that the Old Testament is not irrelevant. The first character we've studied is Adam.
     Adam was the first person created by God. The Bible tells us that he was formed out of the dust of the ground. God placed Adam in charge of all creation, to work and care for the Garden of Eden. God gave Adam one command; "you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die (Genesis 2:17)". God also created Eve, the first woman, who became Adam's wife and helper.
     A serpent, who we know to be Satan, approaches Eve and tempts her. The serpent is able to convince Eve to eat from the forbidden tree, and to share it with Adam. Both Adam and Eve now sinned against God, because they disobeyed His one command. They hide themselves from God (as if you can do that), because they realize that they are naked. God asks Adam if he ate from the forbidden tree, and Adam passes the blame to Eve. Eve then passes the blame to the serpent, claiming that the serpent deceived her. God then casts them both from the Garden.
     So how is Adam a shadow of Jesus? Adam was created in the image of God. Jesus was and is the image of God. While both bear the image of God, Jesus is the full representation of God, where Adam is only a shadow. Adam was created, Jesus is creator.  Adam was put in charge of the Garden of Eden, to work it and rule over it. Jesus is placed in charge of all things, including people.
     Adam was given a command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When he saw that the fruit from the tree was good and pleasing to the eye, he ate from it. Adam wanted to take the place of God, to know good and evil. His disobedience led to him being kicked out of the Garden of Eden, which I believe signifies God's presence. Adam's sin was passed down to all mankind, even up to us. The sin that Adam committed brought death into this world, and separation from God.
     Jesus was given a mission to come on the Earth and to die on the cross. His spent His earthly life living in perfect obedience to all of God's commands. Jesus took the place of man, living as a servant and eventually dying in the place of man. Jesus' perfect obedience led to Him dying on the cross, and being separated from God for three days. However, Jesus rose again and is seated at the right hand of God, and His righteousness is passed down to all who believe, even up to us. The life that Jesus lived and died brought life into the world, and union with God.
     Adam shadows Jesus in many ways, but he falls short of the person of Jesus. Adam could not live in perfect obedience as Jesus did. In fact, Adam's disobedience is the reason that Jesus came. Where Adam could not fulfill God's perfect standard, Jesus came and fulfilled it. Adam wanted to take the place of God, but Jesus took the place of man and restored man. Adam brought death and separation to the world, but Jesus brought life and union with God.
     We didn't discuss all of these questions at our meeting, but I think they are good things to think about regarding Adam.

• How am I like Adam? In what ways do I disobey God's commands?
• Am I living according to the mission that God gave me? Am I trying to take the place of God in my life?
• Do I believe that through Jesus' perfect obedience I can be reconciled to God?
• Am I in Adam or in Jesus?

  -Smart

Evidence of God

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
-Genesis 1:1
     Recently I attend my University's "First Look Fair", which is a time where students can take a look at the many extracurricular groups on campus. I went to support my church's station, and I saw that next to us was a Christian apologetic group. If you don't know what apologetics is, it is using logic and reason to provide a justification for a belief, particular for religions. I thought that it was cool that our campus had this group, but then something interesting happened. A man, clearly atheist, came up to the group, and started pressing one of the people stationed at the booth. He asked him a lot different questions about the Bible and Jesus. I was only half listening, but one question that stuck out to me was, "if God wants us to believe in Him, why doesn't He provide us with definitive evidence that He exists?"
     It seemed to me that the student at the booth struggled to answer this question, but again, I was only half listening. Throughout the rest of that day and even until now, that question stuck in my mind. I wondered how I would have answered that question. It bugged me so much I even took some time from my next class to do some research on the answer to this question of God's existence. Today I just want to share some of my thoughts on this question. Before moving on, I want to reiterate that I do not have the perfect answer to this question; I can only say what God has shown me.
     The first thing that I think we need to consider is what kind of evidence would "definitively" prove God's existence. If this is a legitimate question that you have, I would ask what kind of evidence you want to see from God. Maybe you want to see God come as an angel, or someone raised from the dead. In any case, this question assumes that God has not shown any evidence that would convince you to believe in Him. If that is true, God would have to do something quite spectacular for you to put your faith in Him.
     The second thing to think about is that God has provided evidence of His existence, but we choose to ignore it. According to Genesis 1:1, God created the heavens and the earth. Now, you could argue that this is not true, but I would have to address that at another time for brevity's sake. Also, we are moral creatures, who abide by a moral law that we can't really explain without God. I've written a couple posts regarding that topic. Lastly, we all deeply long for something greater than ourselves. We try to fill this desire with so many different things, such as technology, money, relationships, or entertainment. There are more evidences for God's existence, but I will stop here.
     Perhaps nothing I have said so far would convince someone who would ask this question. Let me then close with this final point. As I stated earlier, someone who asks this question would probably require God to do something pretty dramatic. Let me ask you this, if it takes something crazy to believe in God, what kind of view would you have of God? You would probably only believe in Him because you no longer have a choice. Your belief in Him would be out of fear instead of what God wants- love. God wants us to believe in Him because He loves us, not because we are forced to submit to His power over us. We should believe in Him because we love Him, not because we fear Him (although there should be a healthy fear of God).
-Smart

Why do bad things happen to good people?

"As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one."
-Romans 3:10b
     One of the main questions that people ask, especially when they try to discredit Christianity, is "why do bad things happen to good people"? This is an interesting question, and today I just wanted to share a couple of my thoughts regarding this question. Please know that I don't have the perfect answer, I just have some points that I think are good to consider.
     First, let's think about the question itself- why do bad things happen to good people? This question has underlying assumptions that have to addressed before we even talk about the answer. To start, by asking this question, you assume that there is some moral standard in which you can call certain people good. You also assume that you can call some things bad. Asking this question in an attempt to disprove God is self-defeating, because this question can only be asked if God exists. If God does not exist, then there is no such thing as good or bad people. There is no moral standard to judge whether people are good or bad.
     Second and quickly, by asking this question you assume that good behavior earns good things. By this you assume that there must be a form of justice, which rewards good and punishes evil. Again, this is quite difficult to assume without God. How can there be a standard of justice without a god?
     Third, if we agree that God exists and therefore a moral standard exists, by asking this question you assume that there are good people. However, there are no good people. Romans 3, which I have written above, states that no one is righteous or good. You might say, "well, there are still people who are better than other people!" Perhaps. However, this kind of thinking assumes that some sin doesn't affect God as much as others. It's like thinking of God as a millionaire. If I take one dollar from God, and another man takes a hundred dollars from God, surely I am better than this other man even though we both sinned. Again, perhaps. However, I don't think the millionaire analogy is fitting.
     I think of God as a pure, clean, white canvas. When we sin, it's like we take a black sharpie and draw on the canvas. If I put a small dot on the canvas, where another man draws a huge line on the canvas, you could say that he "sinned" more than me. That could be true, but either way, we both destroyed the pureness and whiteness of the canvas. Whether you put a small dot or huge line on the canvas, the canvas is never the same. It is ruined. This is why I think we cannot take any sin as being "worse" than another. We all sinned, and regardless of what our sin is, it ruins our relationship with God.
     So to answer the question, "why do bad things happen to good people?", I propose this. No one is good, and no one's sin is less punishable than another's. Therefore, we are all worthy of death. When a bad thing happens to a "good" person, it is not unjust. We are all sinful. Perhaps a better question is "why do people suffer in different ways?" Now this question I don't really have an answer to at this moment. All I know is that God is sovereign and good, and He is in control. So why do bad things happen to good people? They don't.
-Smart
(P.S. If there are any other questions you want me to tackle, I would like to read them in the comments.)